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Document Sample
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
IWS Project Initiation Plan
Sample Midsized Website
Business Unit / Program Area (Customer):
Project Sponsor:
Organization:
Project Manager:
Proposed Project Start Date:
Proposed Project End Date:
Key Contact, Phone #
Date Submitted:
Date Approved:
Version:
Last Updated:
IWS Project Initiation Plan
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................. 1
Goals and Objectives................................................................................ 1
Project Scope............................................................................................ 2
Assumptions ........................................................................................... 13
Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities ................................................. 13
Communication Plan............................................................................... 14
Budget..................................................................................................... 16
Management Approaches ...................................................................... 17
Signatures ............................................................................................... 20
Executive Summary
<How an improved site will serve the clients’ needs better>
Implementing the new site in CommonSpot will make it much easier for department faculty and staff to
maintain the content of the site and to use it to publicize news items, events, and faculty or student
research and activities.
Goals and Objectives
Overall Goal: Redesign and re-implement the website for greater functionality, attractiveness, and
ease of maintenance.
Specific Objectives and Success Criteria
Objective Description Success Criteria
1. Website design must be The banner of the site meets
compliant with Cornell the specifications documented
identity standards at www.cornell.edu/identity/
2. Website design must be Client approval
aesthetically pleasing and
convey an impression of
modernity, scientific
excitement, and
educational excellence
3. Users must be able to Site must follow UI standards, 1. fewer phone contacts from
navigate and orient easily render properly on all major people seeking information
browsers and operating that is available on the site
systems 2. positive reactions from
people using the site
3. faculty, students,
prospective students, and
alumni are able to find
information easily
4. Site must be easy to Site structure will allow non- After training, faculty and staff
maintain technical staff to update will be able to enter and
content; dynamic elements will modify content without
IWS Project Initiation Plan 1
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
Objective Description Success Criteria
be managed through user- difficulty. New content
friendly forms managers will be able to come
up to speed with only one or
two hours’ investment in
learning the system.
Documentation and training will
be provided for content
managers and authors
5. Site must be robust and Site uptime >99%
perform well Average page load time < 5
seconds average (except on
dialup connection)
Site renders correctly on all
major browsers and in print
6. Site content must be Content will be entered and All issues identified in QA are
comprehensive and proofed for every page corrected and verified; Client
accurate specified in the site map (by approval or any other
client) independent QA at client’s
option
Project Scope
General Project Scope
In Scope
Prepare 2 variants of home-page design (to comps) for client selection
Prepare comps for full site design from the chosen home page design, through secondary, tertiary, and
specialty pages (total of 2 cycles of design review and modification)
Implement site in CommonSpot with the structure of the approved site map
Incorporate approved design using css
Modest redesign of two sections
Process and incorporat e images as per the approved design and content inventory list
Implement features as described in the Functional Specification document (below):
navigation
Kerberos -aut horized faculty/staff section,
data management for people, features, news, research fields, seminars
dynamic data update of courses listing from Registrar’s database
student survey (webform)
research matrix
Image composition, processing, sizing and compression as specified by the design comps, plus up to 50 on -
page images
Initial content entry by IWS-trained personnel, with progress tracking
Designer review and style correction for cont ent after entry
Quality assurance testing to include verifying:
- proper browser rendering for the following browsers:
Internet Explorer 6 and 7
Firefox 1.5 and 2.0
Safari 2.0
On Windows XP, Mac OS X, and (when appropriate) Windows 2000.
We are constantly re-evaluating our browser test suite, there is a possibility that our test recommendations will
IWS Project Initiation Plan 2
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In Scope
change bet ween now and when the site is ready for testing. These changes will not affect your approved
budget.
- link integrity (all links go to actual pages, and open correctly in the original window or a new one as specified
- correct operation of:
site navigation
data management forms and display pages
dynamic update of course data
online form,
software restricting access to the confidential area of the site.
Implement redirect for bookmarks (legacy links) originating from old site
Client training as detailed in the Training Plan (below)
Post-launch monitoring and correction of 404 errors
Out of Scope
More than 2 initial home-page variants, unless potential designs are already available in the IWS portfolio
More than 2 cycles, or 3 weeks, of design review and refinement ; extensive design changes
Post-entry review of content (to be done by clients)
Design changes to accommodate renaming of pages or sections
Changes to the list of elements to be managed or to the fields to be recorded for each managed element once
those are established
Documentation other than a guide to managing the dy namic data elements of the site
Photography, research, or web search for images
CIT standard CommonSpot hosting, backup, and monitoring will be specified in a separate service agreement.
Post-launch maintenanc e and extensions by IWS will be specified in a separat e maintenance service
agreement.
Business Processes
The new website will offer opportunities for improving some of the department’s business processes.
Clients will determine and document any changes that they will make to these processes.
Some business processes to be considered in this context are:
- processing of requests for information and updates
- review and update of page content and images
- identification, production, entry, and management of eventual “managed data items” – people,
features, news, research fields, seminars
Site Specification
This website project is specified by five documents that are considered to be attachments to this
project plan: site map, content tracker, functional specification, design comps, and redirect list.
Site map – a hierarchical, schematic map of the proposed site
Originally developed in Visio, the site map information is appended in graphical form at the
end of this document.
Content tracker – a spreadsheet listing, by page, every item of content, words, images, PDF,
programmed element, or other – to be included in the site, with data columns for recording who is
responsible for various aspects of processing the content, and for noting progress on these tasks.
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A blank content tracker, in Excel, has been delivered to the clients for their use in managing
content production and entry.
Functional Specification – defines the operation of all programmed elements of the site (such as
navigation , featured elements, secure areas).
Originally developed as a separate Word document, the functional spec is included as part of
this document (below).
The Design comps are a set of graphics files that will specify and display all of the visual features of
the site, including page layouts, colors and fonts to be used, identity elements, banner and thematic
images. These are developed in, and are the deliverable from, the design phase. They are in the form
of JPEGs.
The Redirect List will be developed during the project. It is a spreadsheet that lists every page in the
existing site for which the clients wish to recognize the current url and the page to which we s hould
redirect it in the new site. (This maintains the utility of existing bookmarks that users may have to the
current site.)
System Requirements
There are no non-standard system requirements for development of this website. Hosting system
requirements will be specified in the CIT-IS Website Hosting Service Agreement. The standard terms
for CommonSpot websites are:
CommonSpot (including unlimited contributors, unlimited pages, all CommonSpot
features)
Solaris
Oracle Database
ColdFusion Application Server
1GB Disk Space
2GB/month Data Transfer
1 SFTP/WebDAV Account
Extra SFTP/WebDAV account = $24/yr/account plus one time setup fee
@$85/hr
2GB/month Data Transfer
99% Uptime
One Business Day Response Time
24x7 Hardware Monitoring
Option to increase Disk Space & Bandwidth
Disk Space $75/GB/Yr
Bandwidth $24/GB/Yr
The cost for this hosting option is currently $1,845 per year. Post-launch support time can be
contracted for at the IWS standard rate.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 4
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Sample Website
Functional Specifications
for Content Elements Requiring Programming, Interaction, or Multimedia
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to describe the intended functioning of every aspect of the new website in such
a way that:
- IWS developers can implement that functionality correctly and efficiently
- IWS QA and clients can verify the operation of the programmed elements of the website against this
specification.
Features covered here include:
Navigation
Security:
- Kerberos authentication for faculty section
- Passworded alumni page or section
Data management for:
- featured items
- people
- research fields
- news items
- seminars
Dynamic dat a update of Cours es listing from Registrar’s dat abase
student survey (webform)
Research matrix (graphical; animated)
Note that figures provided here are intended to illustrate the general features and operation of the elements;
actual appearance – layout and styling – will be designed for the site and will vary from these examples.
Navigation
Navigation includes on-page links and a site map, both dynamically generated.
On-page links
As indicated on the design comps, navigation options will vary with the level of the page.
All pages will have links to the secondary pages. These will include
Home
About the Department
Undergraduate Programs
Graduat e Programs
Courses
People
Research
News
Cont act us
All pages except the home page will include a standard breadcrumb trail.
Secondary and lower pages will have automatically -generated navigation that shows, at any time, all pages
directly above the current page plus any sibling and child pages. These will be displayed as dropdowns, as
expanding lists, or using some equivalent UI mechanism.
It should be possible to make any page below the secondary level invisible, unsearchable, and not listed in the
automatically-generated nav.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 5
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
Site Map
The site map will occupy its own page,
accessed through the footer. It will be
dynamically generated and will allow
expansion/collapse of sections, as in this
example:
Security
Kerberos authentication for faculty/ staff section
The pages in the “For Faculty and Staff” section will only be accessible to users with currently -active Kerberos
authentication that verifies that they are members of the department faculty or staff. If the user tries to open any
page in this section, either through the site navigation or through a direct url or bookmark, and that
authentication isn’t pres ent, the website will invoke CU-WebAuth to prompt the user for net ID and Kerberos
password. If access is denied, an explanation popup will be displayed.
Passworded alumni page or section
The page People/Alumni/ and any pages that are added under it will be accessible only to users who enter a
password. The password should only need to be entered once per session, whether or not the user n avigates
out of the Alumni section.
Authorized users will, when logged in, be able to open an admin pop -up that lets them change this password.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 6
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Data Management
Featured Items
This site has provisions for one or two featured elements on the home page. Each item is defined by:
* title
category (if appropriate)
* brief description or teaser text
* long description
OR
- url
OR
-PDF
* small image
large image
start display date
end display date
switches to force dis play or force hide
As in the illustration
(* asterisks indicate required fields )
(note that the selector for “Display location in
the example will only be included for this site if
there are two featured items on the home
page, in which case it will select which of the
two positions this item should occupy)
People
A form, similar to the Featured Items management form, will be provided for entering and editing people (or bio)
data. Fields to be recorded for eac h person are:
* net ID
* first name
middle initial or name
* last name
title
* category (selects from department faculty, field faculty, or staff)
image (required for department faculty)
short bio (required for department faculty)
website URL
research fields (select any number from the currently -defined list of fields; required for department
faculty)
Note: office and campus phone number will be pulled from the University LDAP directory. Optionally,
name fields can be pulled from LDAP based on net ID, this is TBD by clients .
IWS Project Initiation Plan 7
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Research fields
A form, similar to the Featured Items management form, will be provided for defining research fields. Each field
will be specified by:
* name
* image
* description (a few paragraphs of text)
This information will feed directly into the research matrix graphic (on the Research page) and into
News Items
A form, similar to the Featured Items management form, will be provided for entering and editing News Item
data. Fields to be recorded for eac h item are:
* title
* brief description or teaser text
long description
OR
- url
OR
-PDF
small image
large image
start display date
end display date
switches to force dis play or force hide
Seminars
A form, similar to the Featured Items management form, will be provided for entering and editing News Item
data. Fields to be recorded for eac h item are:
* title
* category (if appropriate)
* speaker first name
speaker MI or middle name
* speaker last name
* date
* time
* place
* abstract
long description
OR
- url
OR
-PDF
* switch to publish or hide
Dynamic data update of Course s listing from Regi strar’s database
The Courses page will include a complete list of all cours es offered by the MS&E department, in order of course
number, pulled from the Registrar’s database. This page will be dynamically generated whenever it is viewed.
Student survey
The Undergraduate Programs /Survey page will contain a webform that re-implements what is currently on <url
of existing survey page>
When a survey is completed, an email will be automatically sent to a designated survey administrator.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 8
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
Research matrix
On the Research page, clients would like to have an interactive mat rix that displays faculty by research fields, or
research fields by faculty.
This piece may include images or motion. This will be developed by the designer in collaboration with the
clients; the intention is to have something beautiful, impressive, but above all intuitive and easy to use.
Interface Requirements
User Interface Website UI to be specified by design comps and associated description of
navigation
Authoring interface: CommonS pot
Systems Interfaces Website will need to access and copy data from the Cornell Registrar’s
database for listings of courses, and from the University LDAP directory for
some authorization and contact information fields
Project Interdependencies
There are no ot her projects either within the client department or within CIT that are required for or that depend
on this project.
Training Plan
Name/ Training Level of Updating Training Documentation
Group Type(s)* Acce ss Capabilities
Group: MSE Site Admin & Full All pages CommonSpot Administrator
Admin Cont ribut or Manual
CommonSpot Contributor
Manual
Site manual
Faculty bio guide.
Group: Cont ribut or Cont ribut or access All content and CommonSpot Contributor
Authors to all pages and images Manual
Faculty & managed elements Site manual
staff Faculty bio guide.
responsible
for page
content
Group: No training, Limited – only their Personal web Faculty bio guide.
Faculty only individual bio pages pages
documentation(access is driven by
lNetID)
*Types of training: From CommonSpot Service at Cornell: “Site Admin”, “Contributor” From PaperThin (the
company that produces CommonS pot): “Developer”. From IWS: introductory sessions as requested by client.
Admin and formal Contributor training are arranged with the CommonS pot Service Owner at Cornell. Informal
training sessions, usually brief, fo r small groups or individuals, on CommonSpot authoring and the update of
dynamic or “managed” elements for the specific site can be provided by IWS at our standard per -hour rate. Two
one-hour IWS training sessions are currently budgeted for this site.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 9
Integrated Web Services (IWS)
Administrator training can be scheduled for any time from well before the site launches to shortly after it
launches, but shouldn’t be delayed beyond that.
Cont ribut or training should be scheduled to complete slightly before the site is ready for content entry to begin.
High Level Schedule with Key Deliverables
The schedule given here includes all items from the initial, full project description. At the client’s option, some
items can be removed from the project plan or assigned a provisional status. Provisional status allows the client
to determine, some time into the development of the project, whether or not the section or feature will be
included. Such mid-course decisions may affect the schedule.
Baseline
Baseline
Milestone Completion
Start Date
Date
Content Development
Client Authors develop copy
All copy finalized and approved
Source images identified and obtained (including
permissions )
Source images forwarded to IWS
Design
Design kickoff meeting
st
1 Design Presentation
Feedback Received from clients
nd
2 Design Presentation (may be via web posting)
Feedback Received from clients
rd
3 Design Presentation (if necessary; may be via web
posting)
Design Sign-off
Development
Develop Server Infrastructure
Page templates coded
Static Pages created
Dynamic elements created
Images identified
Images processed, entered
Client site admin training completed
Client users and groups established
Cont ent entry training completed
Manual for dynamic data delivered to client
Cont ent Entry completed
IWS team site review
Initial QA review completed
QA fixes completed and verified
Link redirects identified
Link redirects implemented
IWS Project Initiation Plan 10
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Baseline
Baseline
Milestone Completion
Start Date
Date
Final client site review
Launch
Closing
Post-launch monitoring complete
Transition to Steady State-Project Close Out Report
Assumptions
In order to make a timely launch date:
- project must be approved and initiated by <date>. IWS may be able to begin the project
sooner than the proposed start date, but only if all approvals are in order.
- both IWS and client staff must be readily available for meetings and conferences
- project scope may not be extended (although it may be reduced)
- both IWS and client staff must be vigilant about responding quickly to issues and maintaining
awareness of the project’s tight timeline
- it must be possible to react to unforeseen difficulties by trimming scope or redefining
functionality; however, any such changes must be thoughtful and mutually-acceptable.
The schedule and cost estimates given here include all items from the initial, full project description.
At the client’s option, some items can be removed from the project plan or assigned a provisional
status. Provisional status allows the client to determine, some time into the development of the
project, whether or not the section or feature will be included. Such mid-course decisions may affect
the schedule.
Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities
Stakeholders are all those groups, units, individuals or organizations, internal or external to our
organization, which are impacted by, or can impact, the outcomes of this project.
Project Role Who Project Responsibilities
Client project - coordinate all client-side project activities
manager - report and prioritize issues and problems for the IWS team
- throughout the development phase, obtain information and
decisions as needed to resolve issues and keep the project
moving and on schedule
- review weekly project status and expenditure reports
Client site - Complete CommonSpot site Administrator training
admin - Prepare to take over site admin after launch
Client content various - write, edit, review or change website copy and images, and
authors as necessary send materials to IWS, in accordance with
the project schedule
Client faculty various Either enter their own biographical data into the new website
database, or provide same in electronic format, proofed and
approved, to the client project manager for entry by others. In
IWS Project Initiation Plan 11
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the latter case, review the content after entry and report any
corrections that need to be made.
Communication Plan
The following methods will be used to keep stakeholders and outside parties informed and involved in
the project.
Website Project Documents
Just like the website consulting project, the website development project is initiated by the signing of a
Service Agreement (SA), which is a standard-form contract used by CIT for all projects.
In the course of the website development project, the project team will use two primary documents to
record and communicate about the project’s progress: status reports, and an issue log. The status
reports are in the same format as those of the consulting phase, including a summary of cost-tracking
to date. The issue log is used to document issues, action items related to them, and their resolution,
all through both development and QA. It is accessed through the online tracking system Bugzilla.
If at any time it becomes necessary to make significant changes to the scope, schedule, or
deliverables of the project, these will be recorded in change memoranda that may become addenda
to the Service Agreement.
The Training Plan section of this document is used to coordinate with both the CommonSpot Service
Owner and any other individuals who will be preparing documentation on the site or providing
specialized client training (such as on working with managed content).
Finally, when the project has been completed, a Closeout Report is prepared that summarizes
estimated and actual costs and schedule, and documents any remaining open issues (for example, if
a change is requested after a site has gone into QA, clients often prefer to launch the site as is and
return later to implement the change.)
Other Project Communications
What Who/Target Purpose When/Frequency Type/Method(s)
Design Kickoff Client Project IWS designers Once, at the start Notes are
meeting manager and describe our of the design circulated via
key process, phase email
stakeholders standards; get
information from
clients on design
desiderata
Design Reviews Client Project Review design As revisions or May be meetings
manager and changes and extensions to the or by review of
key refinements design comps are designs on the
stakeholders ready web.
Manager email IWS and client Main channel of Typically several email
exchange project communication messages a day
managers about project during
issues, progress, development
questions, phase
document
IWS Project Initiation Plan 12
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What Who/Target Purpose When/Frequency Type/Method(s)
exchange
Status reports Client Project Apprises clients Weekly throughout Emailed Word
manager of project status, development document
issues, progress,
and costs
Major issues log Client Project documents As needed Word document
manager issues, action
items related to
them, and their
resolution
Bug/minor issues log Client Project documents As needed Website utility
manager issues, action
items related to
them, and their
resolution
Final review of site Client Project Client inspection Once, after IWS At client’s option,
before launch manager and of site to insure QA and before meeting with
key that when it is launch project team or
stakeholders launched it meets asynchronously
specifications by individual
inspection of
websites with any
issues recorded
in the log
Project Close out Client Project Summarizes Once, at end of Document which
Report manager and project results, project is signed by all
key costs, timeline, parties
stakeholders records any open
issues
Training Plan Client Project Identify levels and once document
manager, key types of training
stakeholders, required for all
training client users
personnel
IWS Project Initiation Plan 13
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Budget
Project Cost & Time Estimates
All project costs and dates are estimates. Projects are charged only for actual time spent.
Design Pha se estimated costs
Kickoff meeting; requirements and preferences
develop design alternatives (2) - home and secondary
pages
Present design alternatives
Basic design chosen, alterations identified
Incorporate alternatives, develop further page designs
Post design updates for review and feedback
Receive client feedback
Incorporate final alterations and post
Sign-off on design
Design phas e project management
Design phas e total
Design Phase Cost-Reduction Option:
If clients can choose a design and complete all alterations on it in 2 reviews instead of 3, cost of
design phase can be reduced.
Build phase estimated costs
Designer time
Programmer time
Cont ent entry by IWS
Project management
Documentation
Training sessions
Quality Assurance testing
QA fixes and launch preparation
Post-launch monitoring and support
Factor of safety @10%
Build phase total hours
IWS Project Initiation Plan 14
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Project Resourcing
Project Role # Who (if % Time Dates Needed Name of
Req’d known) or (Date Range) Manager
TBD
Project Manager 1
Programmer 1
Designer 1
Content Entry, if by 2
IWS
QA Testing 1
Systems support 1
Resourcing Comments, Constraints, and/or Issues:
Management Approaches
The Cornell Project Management Methodology (CPMM) will be applied as the project management
approach to implementing this project, specifically, planning, tracking, reporting, and closing out the
project. The following sections define the standard approaches.
Issues Management
The following issues management procedures will be used:
Major issues (any that will significantly affect the scope, schedule, or budget for the project) will be
registered in the project Major Issues log.
The Project manager and Client Project Manager will determine how to address the issue and identify
how it will affect the scope, schedule and budget for the project.
On the Project Status Report, the project manager will report the issues currently being worked on,
their status, and the projected date of resolution. Any critical unresolved issues that are impacting the
scope, time, cost, or quality of the project will be highlighted in the status report.
When an issue is resolved, merged with another issue, or withdrawn, the issue log will be updated.
When an issue is closed the resolution is logged and it is moved to a closed status.
Minor issues will be logged and managed using the Bugzilla issue tracking program, which all IWS
participants and the Client PM will have access to.
Change Management
If the clients request a change that, in the opinion of the IWS project manager, significantly affects the
project’s scope, cost, resourcing, schedule, or the quality of the product, s/he will alert the client
project manager to the implications of the requested change, and they will develop and document a
mutually-agreeable plan for resolving the change request. This may result in their writing an
IWS Project Initiation Plan 15
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addendum to the project service agreement which will need to be signed by the relevant parties at CIT
and the client department.
In the event that no mutually-agreeable plan for resolving the change request can be arrived at, the
original project scope will remain unchanged. In this case, the change request will be documented as
an open issue in the closeout report.
Transition Management Plan
The IWS Project Manager will work with the CommonSpot Service owner to arrange for taking the site
live, using the standard IWS Transition checklist. The url of the old site will be transferred to the new
site.
A redirect utility will be built into the new site to capture attempts to access old-site urls (as from
existing bookmarks) and redirect them within the new site. Unless all such accesses are directed to
the new home page, the clients will fill in a Legacy Links Redirection List, identifying where each old-
site link is to be directed.
IWS Project Initiation Plan 16
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Risk Plan
The following table includes risks that IWS staff are aware of as generally applicable to website
development tprojects. The list may be amended with input from the clients.
Risk Factor Impact on Project Risk Plan (Strategy) Resp.
IWS resourcing The project cost and Assign full technical Project
conflicts or shortages schedule (primarily resources when possible Manager
schedule) could overrun Obtain commitment of
resources to meet the
project schedule
Create an alternate
resource plan for critical
tasks
Clients are unable to Project could run over Reassign content Client
prepare, approve, or schedule; is unlikely to run responsibilities within client project
enter content by the over cost department manager
required deadline
Juggle IWS scheduling to IWS PM
accommodate delay; for
content editing or entry,
use IWS trained and
supervised personnel
Clients do not have as Site is less attractive Provide places in which IWS
many images as are images can be added staff
needed for the site easily later; search for and
buy images from vendors
commission local
photographers to take
more images; canvass Client
faculty for images from PM
their research papers
Server/hosting/ Site can’t go live on time Work with CIT and campus IWS PM
infrastructure problems (note, this is unlikely, and if CSpot hosts to develop
it occurs it will get a LOT of alternatives
attention and resources
from CIT upper
management)
IWS Project Initiation Plan 17
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Signatures
The signatures below indicate that the parties have read and agree to the terms and conditions under
which this offering is made.
Project Sponsors
Name Signature Date Department Title
Project Directors and/or Key Stakeholders
Name Signature Date Department Title
Project Approvers
The signatures below indicate agreement to Secure Required Resources and they have the authority
to commit resources for this project.
Name Signature Date Department Title
IWS Project Initiation Plan 18
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Appendix: Map of Proposed Site
(for this example, only a home-page map is shown. Site maps usually comprise at least 4 pages such
as this, sometimes as many as 20.)
IWS Project Initiation Plan 19
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